Bluehour: A Water Magic Novel Part 16

"How do they convert human beings into mers?"

He looked at me softly for a moment. "With a kiss."

I gulped and then my heart sank. So much for ever kissing Laurent unless I wanted to become like him. A terrible ache ran through my body.

I think he saw the despair in my expression. "A mer can kiss a human without converting the person, but if the kiss lasts too long, the excruciatingly painful process takes place."

A touch of horror burned in my eyes. "Why is the conversion painful?"

"The body changes rapidly. Gills and suctions form. The skin grows thicker. Muscles develop and strengthen. The hair grows. Physical features enhance, characteristic of the mer's extreme beauty..."

I couldn't help but interrupt, "Why do converts become more attractive during the process?"

"The purpose is to look appealing to humans so that they can lure them away and eat their flesh as vital sustenance."

"Oh." I nodded, brushing a fallen strand of my hair out of my face with my fingers. "What else changes in the convert during the process?"

"Their brains grow and develop, increasing intelligence and higher intelligences that give mers powers over humans and environment."

"What kinds of powers do mers have?" My curiosity was intense.

"Omni-linguism, mind control, sound manipulation, plant manipulation, teleportation, increased speed in water, super strength after eating humans, and levitation are some powers that come to mind." He smiled mischievously.

"Incredible." I threw myself onto my back and pondered. "What is omni-linguism?"

"Mers have the ability to understand any form of language. We are natural polyglots."

"Wow! So amazing!" I looked at Laurent with excitement in my eyes. "I want to be a mer!"

He shook his head. "No you don't-believe me. Imagine craving human flesh. It's a horrible life to want to eat what you once were."

"But you don't have to eat humans," I insisted. "You get along fine eating sea creatures. I heard snakes taste like chicken."

He burst out laughing, which surprised me. "If you say so." His eyes narrowed which gave me the feeling he was having predatory thoughts, maybe imagining overtaking venomous sea creatures.

"You said mers can swim at super speeds."

He nodded.

"So, I was right that you saved me when I was being pulled out to see. Right?" I knew it was him; I just wanted him to admit it.

He stretched his arms up toward the ceiling with a facetious look in his eyes and placed his hands behind his head where he leaned back confidently. "I'm not saying."

"Ah, come on." I picked up a pillow and tossed it at him.

"Nope," he said stubbornly.

"You're going to tell me." I swatted him with the pillow.

"Stop," he laughed, trying to block me as my blows increased. He grabbed the pillow from my hands.

"Not until you admit it." Playfully, I threw my body on him now. My insides tingled with desire.

His nostrils flared. "All right, all right." He moved off the bed to a standing position. His jaw was clenched. "It was me."

"Thank you very much," I said sarcastically, trying to hide my overwhelming desire to touch my lips to his, as I pulled the pillow out of his arms and tossed it to my side of the bed. I so wanted him to kiss me just long enough before turning me. If it was quick, there would be no danger. When my body was on top of his for that brief moment, it was heavenly. It was all I wanted-to be with him, connected.

I scooted back to my side of the bed and he sat back down in his spot. We didn't talk for awhile, but just sat there like that. The French windows creaked in the wind and a nice sea breeze was blowing in.

As we sat there in silence I began thinking back to our school trip to Catalina Island. I remembered reading about the mers there and how accurately the museum depictions described them in comparison to Laurent's descriptions. "At the museum on Catalina Island, I saw a picture from the 1700s of a young woman and man that reminded me of Marine and Pascal..."

Before I could finish, Laurent interrupted excitedly, "You noticed that?" His eyes gleamed in the bedroom light. "They looked different than they do now-didn't they?"

My eyes widened. "It was them?"

"Yes." He smiled wryly. "Our ship wrecked near Catalina Island and the museum kept record of it. Most people think mers are simply legend, but they hold actual artifacts from the tragedy."

I was amazed. "Then, were the other exchange students on the same ship as you?"

He nodded. "Yes, they were." His eyes glazed over like he was thinking back in time. "Marine and Pascal were just married and were traveling for their honeymoon, but Brigitte, Marcel, Josette, Sabine and I didn't know each other at the time of the wreck."

"Sabine was on the ship too?"

"Yes." He paused for a moment. "After the conversions, our attackers grouped us together as a school and paired all of us up with each other, a.s.signing mates."

"You mean like arranged marriages?" I asked, my voice lifting in surprise.

"Something like that. There was a courtship period that was designed to lead to marriage. Brigitte bonded with Marcel during the process and soon thereafter they married. Marine and Pascal were already mates from before the conversion, so they underwent the mer ceremony immediately. And I was matched with Sabine."

"Did you not like her?"

"I don't think I could have liked anyone at that time. I was wildly bitter at my fate. In my rage, I became consumed with violence. My appet.i.te was ravenous. Sabine was frustrated with my lack of interest in her and in turn became obsessed.

"As my killing sprees waned, my school began meeting secretively. We decided to distance ourselves from the ancient mers. We became land dwellers who refused to eat human flesh. Sabine grew more and more angry that I kept putting off marriage. In turn, she aligned with another school of converts from another shipwreck, but she vowed to kill any female who took a romantic interest in me for all eternity."

"If she can't have you, then neither can anyone else."

He nodded. "I would have married her; I was just apathetic about it. I told her my lack of feelings weren't personal to her, but a result of my repulsion for mers as a species. It didn't matter that she was beautiful. She was a monster and so was I. Ideologically, we were everything that I despised. I couldn't love her when I couldn't love myself."

"But she didn't get it."

He shook his head. "No. Now that she was a mer, her vanity was too strong. Any sort of romantic rejection was intolerable."

"What about Ms. Josette Bellerose?" I asked.

"She was paired with a mer from another school, but when we became vegetarians, so to speak, he refused to come to our side. I think Josette is still in love with him. But she disagrees. Only maybe twenty years ago or so, she married a human man."

My eyes widened. "Do they have children?"

"They have a daughter about your age. She takes turns living with her human family in Laguna Beach and with us posing as our chaperone."

"How long have you been land dwellers?"

"Since the 1730s. We only lived with the ancients for about two years before migrating to land. Because we are immortals and never age beyond the age of our conversions, we can only live in a community for so long. Eventually, people start to wonder why we never grow older. When that happens, we have to leave."

"Why did you come to Santa Monica High as exchange students? Isn't the point to stay in one place for as long as you can?"

"You're right. Exchange students usually visit a school for one year. Our plan was to come as exchange students and then apply for residency. We have no intension of going back to France."

I smiled at that. He got off the bed and walked over to the windows.

"I want to take you for a night swim," he whispered. His eyes looked sad and mysterious.

But before I had a chance to respond, he swept me up into his arms and carried me to the big French windows. My eyes were wide with fear, but I thrilled at his touch.

Beautiful Laurent opened the windows with me in his arms. "Here, thread your legs under my arms on either side as we make our way down.

My adrenaline was rushing as he easily turned my body around and held me up. I put my legs under his arms and folded them around his back. It was more than exciting being that close to him and feeling light as air in his strong grasp.

"Hold on." He started to climb out of the window. We weren't so high up, but still it was quite a drop that could easily break bones.

"I could fall," I stammered.

"Trust me." He arched way back so that I wouldn't touch the building with my body.

The suctions above his pelvis and his strong legs maneuvered us down the log house while his back curved away from the structure, falling and then clinging to the wood intermittently until we were at the ground. It happened so fast that I wasn't even able to protest.

He lowered me to the sand now that we were on the sh.o.r.e. I sort of wobbled as I tried to catch my breath. "Whoa," I breathed. "That was incredible!"

"Now for the fun part," he said, the moonlight shining on his shadowed body. "I'm taking you for a night swim."

I trembled at the thought, remembering how last time in his pool I couldn't breathe so deep down. "I'm not allowed in the ocean," I whispered. "My dad doesn't allow it." My heart ached at the thought of my family and how worried they must have been.

He placed his cool hand on the side of my face. "Don't be afraid, Grace. You are my life now. I won't let anything happen to you."

My body rushed with feelings at his touch, at his words. "I want to go with you, but I'm afraid because I can't breathe under water."

His expression was warm and beautiful. "Now that I can touch you, if we remain connected, you will receive all the oxygen you need. Just hold my hand. You can touch any part of my body and the transfer will take place for as long as you desire. Touch will protect you from the water pressures also. Even upon separation, the effects will last for a short period of time."

"Really?" My eyes lit up.

"Yes." He took my hand and led me to the ocean.

The water was chilly, but I adjusted quickly. I felt safe with Laurent as we waded through the waves with our heads above the dark water.

"Why don't your legs turn into a fish tail in the water like the mers in the movies?" I asked.

He pulled me up against his body and we were chest to chest, just the bodice of my soaked yellow sundress between us. "Converts keep their legs, but grow webbed feet. Mers from birth have fish tails."

We gazed up at the starry sky. It was beautiful. The big dipper was in full view.

"Look how the starlight dances on the black water," he murmured.

"It's perfect. So breathtaking."

"You ready to go under?"

I nodded, scared, yet excited.

As we dove under, we held hands. Being in his comfortable grasp gave me some security. Laurent swam slowly enough beside me so I could keep up. Everything was pitch black and I couldn't see a thing. In many ways this was the scariest experience of my life. Swimming endlessly in the dark. I couldn't breathe under the water, but somehow I didn't feel the urge to. Apparently, oxygen and carbon dioxide were exchanging between us without any inhalations or exhalations.

We swam deeper and deeper in the sheer black water. The farther down we went, the more terrified I became. I held to Laurent's hand tightly. Aside from the rush of water over our bodies, there was complete silence. I kept worrying what sorts of sea creatures were around us. Were we being watched? Could I be consumed by a shark or even an octopus at any moment? If Laurent let go of my hand, I would surely die. After a short while, just the water pressure alone would be enough to crush my body. But, somehow, in his grasp, I was safe.

I felt something brush past my legs. With a start, a scream shot out of my throat.

"Don't be frightened," Laurent whispered calmly. "It's only seaweed."

I was shocked that I could hear him under water. His whispery voice came across perfectly clear. How could that be?

"Watch this." His eyebrow lifted.

But before I had a chance to respond, if I even could, his actions pulled my attention entirely.

In a sudden shift of light, his free hand raised above the edge of a field of dark sea gra.s.s that was now lighting up in many colors progressively in a way that appeared to be of his own doings. The beauty was magnificent as the now colorful plant life swayed upon the ocean floor.

"How did you do that?" I asked, shocked, yet thrilled that I could speak perfectly under water as well.

"The power of plant manipulation," he murmured lightly. "You didn't think mers were doomed to a life of utter darkness, did you?"

"I guess I never thought about it." I felt so strange speaking freely at the bottom of the ocean. We swam through the colorful fields that lit up as we approached. There were beautiful sea anemone and fluorescent sea plants.

"Though we can talk, we should speak as little as possible." His voice was still in a whisper.

"Why is that?" I whispered back.

"Sound carries far in the ocean and I don't want Sabine to pick up on our vibrations."

A shiver ran through my body and in fear, I didn't respond. The thought of being overtaken by a predator frightened me into silence. I was out of my element entirely.

Laurent led me to an amazing coral reef. We swam through its archways and tunnels as he lit the way. I had never seen such beauty. I think he was enhancing the colors and vibrancy with his powers. We saw bright orange starfish, purple sea urchins, and impressive exotic fish of varying types. There were even crabs and a huge sea snail with a decorative sh.e.l.l.

Laurent looked at me and smiled brightly. I think he was pleased to see the huge grin on my face as we swam.

"Let's go back," he whispered as he led me out of the coral reef and back though the fields of many colors. This time in the darkness, I felt safer knowing we would rise out of the water soon. We broke the surface and the air rushed back into my lungs.

I was breathing normally now. The transition was sudden, but a relief. I was glad to feel the air circulating familiarly through my body as I was accustomed.

"That was incredible," I laughed. "I'm still in shock."